Watch Beck Pay Musical Tribute to Steely Dan’s Walter Becker

Musician Beck performs onstage during day 3 of the 2014 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club on April 13, 2014 in Indio, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Coachella)

By Jon Wiederhorn

“We’ve lost someone today,” eclectic artist Beck Said in the middle of his single “Where It’s At” on Sunday night (Sept. 3) in Detroit. “Walter Becker from Steely Dan passed away.”

Beck added, “We’d like to play something in tribute,” and his band launched into about 30 seconds of Steely Dan’s “Josie. “That’s for Walter Becker,” Beck said then finished “Where It’s At.”

Beck was opening for U2 at Ford Field on their continuing Joshua Tree tour when he became one of the first well-known acts to pay onstage tribute to Becker. Walter Becker died earlier that day at age 67. No cause of death has been announced.